Diets can prolong life expectancy and elevate its quality in dogs. Nevertheless, dietary and nutritional recommendations and their importance are highly undervalued and neglected. In this article, we tell you what can a puppy eat.
What can a puppy eat: a first-year timeline
Neonatal period (2 weeks)
The new born puppy stage lasts two weeks after birth. This is a very critical period for new born puppies as they are vulnerable toward infectious diseases, congenital defects and malnutrition.
During this period, they are physiologically immature and dependent on their mother and the colostrum they receive; the milk during the first 24–72 hours after birth that is rich in nutrients, growth factors, digestive enzymes and most importantly maternal antibodies. What can a puppy eat if it is orphaned? We suggested bottle feeding with a canine milk replacer recommended by your vet until the puppy becomes of age to start eating semi-solid foods.
Weaning period (3-4 weeks)
During the first phase of the weaning period (3-4 weeks of age), puppies start eating semi-solid food or a thick gruel. Cow and goat’s milk should be avoided as their high lactose level might result in diarrhea.
Home-prepared weaning formulas are not recommended as their ingredients are nutritionally imbalanced leading to malnutrition. Hence, it is highly recommended to seek advice from a veterinary nutritionist.
Weaning period (6 weeks)
In this phase, from 6 weeks old, puppies start eating full nutrition from food, what is called “nutritional weaning”. After weaning and during the first 5 months, puppies should gain 2-4 g/day/kg based on their breed. The growth rate begins to plateau at 6 months.
How often should I feed a puppy?
It depends on the age of the puppy:
- Neonatal period: should be nursed at least 4–6 times per day. The bitch’s milk supports neonates’ normal growth until approximately 4 weeks of age, during which supplemental feeding is only necessary with unusually large litters or maternal rejection.
- Weaning period (3-4 weeks): what can a puppy eat includes fresh semi-solid food several times per day, removing it after 20–30 minutes to prevent bacterial growth and subsequent food toxicosis.
- Weaning period (6 weeks): puppies should be fed at least twice daily, and some three or more meals based on their daily activity.
What can a puppy eat: allowed and forbidden foods
There are generally three types of meal feeding by pet owners: free-choice (ad libitum, self-feeding), time-restricted and portion-controlled. In puppies (especially large breed dogs) portion-controlled feeding is the recommended regiment as it minimizes diet-related obesity and overfeeding-associated skeletal disorders.
Some human foods are toxic for dogs as such should be avoided for puppies:
- raisins and grapes (kidney damage)
- chocolate
- liver (vitamin A toxicity)
- macadamia nuts (weakness, depression, vomiting)
- onions and garlic (red blood cells damage and anemia)
- avocados (respiratory problems)
- high fat foodstuff such as chicken skin (pancreatitis)
- sugar-free foods containing xylitol (liver toxicity)
- broccoli (poorly documented toxicity in dogs).¹
What should puppy food contain? The 6 classifications of nutrients
Water, protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals are the six necessary nutritional components.
Water
Clean, fresh water should be available to puppies at all times. Most mammalian species need approximately 44–66 mL/kg body weight water. Canned pet foods, dry pet foods and semi-moist foods contain 60-87%, 3–11% and 25–35% of water, respectively.
Protein
Another category of what can a puppy eat are proteins. They can be supplemented from commercial dog foods formulated with a mixture of plant and animal-based proteins with digestibility of 75%–90%. Healthy puppies of 4–14 weeks age need 9.7 g and older than 14 weeks 12.5 g of protein per kg body weight per day.
Egg has the highest biological protein value, followed by animal-based proteins and plant-based proteins, respectively. Growing puppies need a minimum of 22% protein as dry matter in their diet.
Fat
Fat is the main source of energy and is essential for the absorption, storage, and transport of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K). Growing puppies should receive a minimum of 8% fat as dry matter or 5.9 g of fat per kg metabolic body weight per day in their diet.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the second source of energy and can be supplemented from sugars, starches, and non-starch polysaccharides and dietary fibers in pet foods. Most carbohydrates are well tolerated in puppies however highly fermentable fibers and low-cooked starches cause flatulence, diarrhea and cramping.
Vitamins
Vitamins can be adequately supplemented from most of the commercial dog foods, however should be balanced as overconsumption of some vitamins (A and D) results in toxic reactions. There is no dietary requirement for vitamins C and K for dogs as they are synthesized in liver and intestines, respectively.
Minerals
Finally, minerals include sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, iodine, fluorine, selenium, chromium and are necessary components of a balanced diet and indiscriminate supplementation should be avoided.
What can a puppy eat? Types of diets
More than 92% of dogs’ daily calories are provided from pet foods which are marketed in four forms: dry, moist, semi-moist and raw. Complete and balanced diets are formulated to provide adequate quantities of required nutrients within the healthy nutritional limits.
- Dry foods are the most popular pet foods containing 10% moisture and 90% dry matter. The ingredients of approximately 95% of dry foods are a mixture of grains, fats, minerals, and vitamins, fat and meat and meat byproducts, such as free-range chicken or Norwegian salmon.
- Moist foods (also called canned foods) contain 60%–87% moisture and 20%–30% dry matter with similar ingredients of dry foods. They contain high amounts of both animal-based proteins such as meat products/byproducts and plant-based proteins such as grains, wheat or soy.
- Semi-moist foods contain 15%–35% moisture and 55%–70% dry matter with simple sugars and salts. They are not as popular as the others, however still marketed and used by some owners. These products should not be used in diabetics.
- Raw foods (also called bones and raw food or “biologically appropriate raw food “BARF”) are another common pet food and marketed in two forms: home-prepared foods and commercial raw food diets.
Home-prepared foods include fresh, frozen or freeze-dried raw food. Commercial raw food most commonly are fresh, frozen, pasteurized, or freeze-dried diets which are combined with raw meat by some owners to provide a mix supplement.
Treats and snacks
Treats and snacks are also under raw foods and are included in the list of what can a puppy eat. 57% of dogs receive a treat at least once daily, but they should not exceed 10% of total daily calories. High-fat and calorie dense treats and snacks should be avoided as they cause gastrointestinal problems and pancreatitis.
The snacks of Nature’s Variety are prepared with natural ingredients and healthy superfoods. It is a good complementary pet food snack that’s low in calories with a great flavour.
Home-prepared diets
Home-prepared diets labelled “natural” “organic” or “vegetarian” do not meet the nutritional demands of puppies as such the recipe should be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist to meet all the nutritional demands of growing puppies and prevent food allergies and adverse reactions.
Raw food diets, especially meat products, are strongly discouraged as they might contain pathogens leading to fatal food-borne and zoonotic diseases such as salmonellosis.
Sometimes, the importance of diets and feeding regimens are highly neglected by pet owners. The fact of not knowing what can a puppy eat can lead to food-related gastrointestinal problems. Regimens and well-balanced diets are of major importance in growing puppies to provide their nutritional demands and prevent diet-related diseases. Feeding regimens should be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist at all life stages of dogs to prevent dietary indiscretion, insufficiency, and malnutrition.